A recently published, Kenya-based, randomized controlled study (Masters & Thirumurthy/STIs) (M&T) evaluates a novel intervention that appears to combine in a fresh way elements of various innovative interventions for HIV prevention. Recently published studies (e.g. Kissinger/STIs; Estcourt & Cassell/STIs) have explored the potential of ‘expedited’, or ‘accelerated’ partner therapy – where the partner of an […]
Category: HIV testing
How Mobile Technology Can Lead to Improved Care of STIs – by Julie Potyraj
Blog by Julie Potyraj, Community Manager, Milken Institute School of Public Health at The George Washington University e: jpotyraj@publichealthonline.gwu.edu As we move into an era where our phones do everything from lowering the temperature in our homes to arranging a ride, it comes as no surprise that these devices also offer a new way to meet and engage […]
Is the UK meeting its national guidelines for HIV testing of MSM?
The potential role of frequent HIV testing in curbing the HIV epidemic among the MSM population has long been recognized. The introduction of the strategy of ‘opt-out’ testing in the UK (2007), as in other countries at around the same time, brought a steep rise in testing, followed by stabilization (McDaid & Hart (STIs); Saxton […]
Responding appropriately to differentials in HIV care outcomes – are local answers needed?
The recent discovery of the preventative potential of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) (STIs/blog/modelling ART impact) throws into sharp relief the challenge represented for the US by the very inadequate proportion of its 1.2 million HIV+ citizens (<30%) who are virally suppressed. Nunn & Mayer use new geographical mapping tools to bring home forcibly the epidemiological dimension […]
Peer group education through social media: turning the tide of the MSM HIV epidemic?
The link between social networking technology and risk-taking sexual behaviour appears to be a complex one. On the one hand, there is a strong likelihood that social networking increases MSM at risk by involving them in sexual networks. For example, according to the European MSM Internet Survey, 58% of MSM reporting a non-steady partner over […]
US HIV screening guidance shifts to a population-based approach
The updating of important US guidelines on HIV testing by the US Planning Services Task Force (USPSTF) (http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1682314) confirms a shift from a risk-based to a population-based approach to HIV testing. The USPSTF guidelines are now in line with the most recent (2006) guidelines of the Communicable Diseases Centre (CDC) http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5514a1.htm). The option for risk-based […]
Home-based HIV testing: an acceptable intervention for sub-Saharan Africans?
HIV testing is the gateway to accessing care – but can involve issues of stigma. So improving accessibility to testing – by, amongst other things, overcoming the associated stigma – is a major concern for developed and underdeveloped countries alike, and has led to initiatives for testing in “non-traditional settings” (e.g. the UK based HINTS […]
HIV testing gives rise to behaviour change
What sort of impact does HIV testing (Voluntary Testing and Counselling: VCT) have on an individual’s subsequent sexual behaviour? A number of studies of VCT clients in sub-Saharan Africa, and published in STI journal, suggest a significant preventative effect. A two-year cohort study of 401 clients of Kenyan government health centres (Arthur & Gilks, 2007) […]
Non-targeted HIV testing in health settings – worthwhile?
A large, recently published French study, based in metropolitan Paris, places a question mark over the value of non-targeted HIV screening as a strategy to lower the number of undiagnosed infections and improve early detection. Late diagnosis of HIV remains a common problem both in France – where, despite accessible testing, one-third of diagnoses are […]
What fluidics engineering can do to prevent vertical HIV/syphilis transmission in low resource settings
The economic case for investment in the prevention of vertical (mother to child) transmission of HIV and syphilis is easily made – even in low resource settings. Yet the virtual elimination of maternal HIV transmission remains a goal still to be achieved in many regions, while syphilis in pregnant mothers is often unaddressed with tragic […]